Vaishnavas I
I S.L.No. NAME SOURCE 1. ICCHAMAYI DEVI GVA 2. INDRIYANANDA KAVICANDRA GVA 3. INDUMUKHI DEVI GVA 4. ISANA GVA 5. ISANA GVA 6. ISANA GVA 7. ISANA ACARYA GVA,CCU 8. ISANA NAGARA GVA 9. ISVARADASA BMO 10. ISVARAPURI GVA 11. ISVARI DEVI GVA H. 1. ICCHAMAYI DEVI (Iccha): She belonged to the Sakha of Syamananda Prabhu. Iccha was the wife of the famous devotee RAsikamurari. (Bhaktiratnakara 15.30) H. 2. INDRIYANANDA KAVICANDRA: He was a devotee and a close relation of Jayananda, the author of Caitanyamangala. Nothing more is known about his lineage. H. 3. INDUMUKHI DEVI: She was a disciple of Srinivasa Acarya. Indumukhi was married to Srila Vyasacarya, also a disciple of Srinivasa, and the court-Pandita of the king of Visnupur. Her son was named Syamadasa Acarya. (Karnanada 1) H. 4. ISANA: He belonged to the lineage of Lord Caitanya and was His domestic attendant (CC. 1.10.110). Isana has been praised in almost all the Vaisnava works. (See Vaisnavavandana, Bhaktiratnakara 12.91, CBh. 2.8.74) With deep affection this greatly fortunate soul looked after Lord Caitanya from His childhood. Isana did his best to satisfy the demands of child Caitanya and would never part with Him. Isana had a very long life (Bhaktiratnakara 11.721, 12 .95-97); most of the closest devotees of Lord Caitanya at Navadvipa, as well as Visnupriya devi, expired before Isana. At a very advanced age, Isana personally showed the sites related to the lila of Lord Caitanya to Srinivasa Acarya Prabhu and Narot tama Thakura. H. 5. ISANA: He was an attendant of Sanatana Gosvami. He accompanied Sanatana when the latter escaped from the prison of Hussain Shah and went to Vrndavana. When Sanatana Prabhu learned that Isana had eight gold coins in his possession, he took seven co ins and gave them to Bhuina in appreciation for his hospitality. Isana was then commanded to return home with the remaining one gold coin. After crossing Patra hill Sanatana left Isana. (CC. 2.20.18-36) H. 6. ISANA: He was a resident of Vrndavana and possibly hailed from Gauda. Nothing much is known about this Isana. However, his name is mentioned along with other devotees who accompanied Rupa Gosvami for a darsan of the deity of Gopalaji which was kep t hidden for five months in the house of Viththalesvar in Vrndavana in order to protect the deity from the Muslim attacks (CC. 2.18.52). Isana's name is also found among other devotees who went to bless Srinivasa, Narottama and Syamananda when they were bringing Vaisnava books by road on a cart from Vrndavana to Gauda. (Bhaktiratnakara 6.513) H. 7. ISANA ACARYA: He was Maunamanjari in his past incarnation. (Gauraganoddesadipika 195) H. 8. ISANA NAGARA: Isana Nagara was a brahmana who belonged to the Sakha of Advaita Prabhu. He was born in 1492 AD. He was originally from Navagram of Laud paragana in the district of Srihatta (Bangladesh), but when he was five years old he and his widowed mo ther left Navagram to take shelter in the house of Advaita Prabhu. Isana's education was arranged by Advaita Prabhu. As per the command of Sita devi, wife of Advaita Prabhu, Isana married and entered family life when he was 70 years old. Isana was a highly spirited person. One day when Isana was about to touch Lord Caitanya's feet, the Lord noticed the sacred thread worn by Isana and forbade him to touch His feet since Isana was a brahmana. Immediately Isana tore off his sa cred thread. Some say that Isana's wife hailed from Teota village on the bank of the Padma and had three sons named Purusottama Nagara, Harivallabha Nagara, and Krsnavallabha Nagara. Family descendents of Isana still live in Goalanda and Jhankpal v illage near Teota village (Bangladesh). The royal family and Bagchi family members are of Teota are disicples of Isana's lineage. In 1568 AD. Isana Nagar wrote the book Advaitaprakasa at Lauda village. H. 9. ISVARA DASA: An Odiya kavi, Isvara dasa wrote Caitanya Bhagavata in the Odiya language. According to BBM, Isvara dasa wrote this book around the last quarter of the 17th century. Haridasa dasa (GVA) remarks that the book may not have much historical val ue, still he incorporated it in GVA because Isvara dasa was a great devotee. (GVA p.1556) H. 10. ISVARAPURI: He was the diksa-guru of Lord Caitanya. He was born in a brahmana caste of the Radha clan in Kumarahatta village, presently known as Halisahar. His father was Syamasundara Acarya. The family name of Isvarapuri is not known. He was instrum ental in inspiriting Nityananda Prabhu to leave home (Premavilasa 7 and 23). The following are the references showing Isvarapuri in the biographies of Lord Caitanya: CBh 1.9.161-170, 1.11.70-126, 1.17.46-162; CC. 2.10.131-150, 2.8.26-30. Three sl okas composed by Isvarapuri have been included in Padyavali (nos. 16, 62 and 75). Also see Bhaktiratnakara 12.2206-2209. H. 11. ISVARI DEVI: She was the first wife and disciple of Srinivasa Acarya Prabhu. Her father was Gopala Cakravarti, the Zemindar residing at Jajigrama in the district of Burdwan. Bhaktiratnakara 8.495 states that before her marriage Isvari was known as Draupa di and after receiving diksa from Srinivasa Prabhu she received the name Isvari. Books such as Karnananda, Premavilasa etc. refer to Isvari devi.